Trump: Puerto Rico's massive debts should be wiped out

Hurricane Maria left a path of destruction in Puerto Rico, leaving most of its citizens without access to electricity and clean drinking water. The island's residents talk about their daily struggle to survive and make end's meet.
USA TODAY

President Trump gives food to a crowd affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits a disaster relief distribution center at Calgary Chapel in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, on Oct. 3, 2017.(Photo: Evan Vucci, AP)

Those financial obligations — combined with bureaucratic inertia, population decline and lack of economic opportunity — hobbled the island's ability to pay for basic services such as public safety and health care.

In the island's municipal bankruptcy case, a federal oversight board is aiming to negotiate debt reductions with the island's creditors on behalf of Puerto Rico.

"They owe a lot of money to your friends on Wall Street and we're going to have to wipe that out," Trump told Fox News. "You can say goodbye to that."

Trump, who made the comments after touring the island to see Maria's wreckage, does not exert direct control over Puerto Rico's debt restructuring. He could theoretically pursue a federal bailout to cover the island's debts, which would require Congressional action, but that's unlikely.

Still, political momentum to aide Puerto Rico after Maria devastated the island could put pressure on creditors to capitulate in the debt negotiating process.

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President Trump tells Puerto Rico hurricane destruction Killed the U.S. budget.
Time